Penn State pair comes to Houston to document the Astrodome story

Authors Ken Womack and Bob Trumpbour want this model of the Astrodome to help them write their book about the Eighth Wonder. (Kirksey Collection / University Of Houston)

This week, authors Ken Womack and Bob Trumpbour came to Houston to do research for their in-gestation trade paperback about the Astrodome. Both men were on a quest to find artifacts related to the Dome, which has enchanted them both for decades. The pair of Penn State professors specialize in contemporary culture.

Trumpbour is a stadium expert with two books to his name. He’s an encyclopedia of sports arena knowledge, who visited the Dome in the ’80s.

Kingwood native Womack is a noted Beatles scholar. To say his grandfather Kenneth E. Zimmerman had just a bit of an integral part in the fabric of Houston architecture is a massive understatement.

Zimmerman was an architectural engineer with Walter P. Moore who created structural designs of such Houston landmarks as the Dome, Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts and Rice Stadium. Chances are you’ve spent some time in each of those if you are a Houstonian of a certain age. Not to mention his work on the Warwick Hotel, the Bates-Freeman Building at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and the C.E. “Pat” Olsen Field baseball stadium at Texas A&M.

Zimmerman always said one of his favorite jobs was the Dome. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 95.

“The Dome changes the game for Houston. Before it was an oil city. A cowboy city,” said Womack. “With the Dome came the space age, the idea that we weren’t just one thing, but many others.”

“It changed the dynamic of all stadiums to come,” says Trumpbour, who grew up going to old Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium.

I met with the pair over coffee this week, excitedly talking about all things Dome and pondering the current plans to push the structure further into the city of Houston’s future.

The men are studying everything they can about the stadium that they can find in Houston. The place is a hot topic, and not just for Houstonians. Items on eBay related to the stadium go for hundreds of dollars.

Womack remembers having season tickets to everything as a kid growing up in the area. His first concert was a Sonny and Cher gig at RodeoHouston way back when.

Trumpbour can tell you things about the engineering aspects of the Dome that go beyond “Hey that roof sure does look nifty,” down to the bracing on the outside walls, to how during its 25th year, engineers were struck by how stable it was after two and a half decades of wear. It only took a year to build, while most modern buildings take the span of a presidential term.

“It could outlast us all. Weather couldn’t topple it. It was built for bad weather,” he says.

The duo hopes to have a book about the Dome in the hands of fans by April 2015, just in time for the 50th anniversary of construction.

If you have anything exceptionally Dome-related to relay to Womack and Trumpbour, you can contact them here.